As early as 1755, however, Buffon found that his studies in comparative anatomy placed many difficulties in the way of these “simple but beautiful laws” and “immutable characters.” He calls attention to the fact that the pig is plainly the “compound of other animals,” possessing many parts for which it has no use, and concludes that “Nature is far from subjecting herself to final causes in the formation of her creatures,” and that by continually searching for such causes men “deprive philosophy of its true character, and misrepresent its object, which consists in the knowledge of the ‘how’ of things.” In 1761 he acknowledged a belief in the frequent modification of species, but believed that some animals were much more subject to variation than others. He understood the struggle for existence, with its consequent elimination of the species least capable of living under unfavorable circumstances, and stated it very clearly. One of the most interesting portions of Buffon’s evolutionary philosophy was his belief that external conditions could directly modify the structure of animals and plants, and that these modifications were hereditary. This was, in essence, the theory of transmission of acquired characters--a theory which was to be greatly elaborated by one of Buffon’s successors, and which was to cause trouble among evolutionists for many decades. Buffon applied it particularly to the animals of the western hemisphere, showing how they were changed by climate, food, etc., so that eventually animals coming from the eastern hemisphere to the western[9] would become new species. In this connection he emphasizes the fact, also pointed out by Kant, that man must study the changes taking place in his own period in order to understand those which have been accomplished in the past, and might be accomplished in the future. Even at the time when he believed most thoroughly in evolution and variation, Buffon was troubled by the Bible account of creation, and wavered between the two. Some time after 1766 he abandoned his advanced stand on evolution, and concluded that species were neither static nor changeable, but instead that “specific types could assume a great variety of forms[10],” and that no definite assertions might be made regarding the origin of any particular animal or plant. One cannot but wonder what was the cause for Buffon’s confusion and changes of attitude. From special creationist to radical evolutionist, and then to conservative occupying a position halfway between was a remarkable mental evolution to be covered in the space of less than sixty years. What was the cause of it?